St Helens and Knowsley due to submit foundation trust pipeline agreement by end of July

An update to NHS North West’s July 6 board meeting stated: “For ten out of the fourteen NHS Trusts in the North West, the DH requested that minor amendments be made to [their] Tripartite Formal Agreements (TFA). These amendments have now been made, and they were submitted to the DH on 22 June 2011 for their signature. Once DH’s signature has been received, all NHS Trusts will publish their TFAs.”
“On 6 June, discussions took place with the DH Provider Development Team regarding progress on the FT pipeline for the remaining 4 NHS Trusts, these being Pennine Acute NHS Trust, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust and North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust. Following the meeting, TFAs for all Trusts are due to be submitted to the DH by the end of June 2011, with the exception of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which it has been agreed will submit the TFA by the end of July 2011.”

TFAs confirm the commitments made by a trust, its strategic health authority, and the DH to enable it to reach foundation trust status.